I think that the release date will be postponed.

I just can't wait to join the (second) beta.

I think when you see all these different and numerous ideas piled on them from the forums, it seems like there is just too much work to do, but I would guess they already have a very good idea of what they want to make.

Yeah I think that thread is what inspired this one. I don't have my little orphan Annie decoder ring yet.

I think that the actual release date isn't important. No one is going to want to have it released unfinished and/or not as good as possible (money situation ignored).

It'll be done when it's done.

That said, game mechanic stuff is trivial compared to the engine work.

In GalCiv II, I routinely made dramatic changes to the AI or economy or what have you in-between updates (as some long time GalCiv players know).

For instance, we could implement one combat system, decide we don't like it, and do a different one in the next week -- as long as the actual mechanics don't make their way into the engine. Hence, the ugly looking beta.

I appreciate the insight.

I am all for "it's done when its done." And it sounds like when the gameplay is where you want it things could come together for the finished product really fast. I was just wondering if August 2010 is even a target, is there a target, if it is what your gut feeling is.

The impression I get is, it's too far out to even really be looking at dates, that's fine.

Based on what I see internally, I think we could make this upcoming Spring if we pushed it.  

What the beta testers have and what we have are two different things.  The beta testers are involved in gameplay design testing. It could have been done in flash really except then we wouldn't have been able to try out data streaming and the basic 3D engine parts.

That. is. AWESOME! Not that I want it this spring, it is just cool that things are progressing so well. And thanks for spilling, I know how you game developers hate hate hate setting timeline expecations. Very good news.

Indeed, don't push it...just listen to the suggestions, that is very important. We have lot of experienced strategy gamers on this forum. It's a good thing. We all want this turn based fantasy game to be close to perfect. If it will take an additional 2-4 or more months to tweak the various gameplay mechanics, no one will complain.

even if it was pushed to something more like October or november 2010, its hardly the kind of push back I have grown accustom to seeing in games I want direly.   Less than a year of delay for quality reasons isn't much of a sacrifice to have a solid game in my opinion.

If necessary, I'd make Elemental take 3 more years to finish.

But it's not looking like it'll be necessary to do any pushing.

The "Game" stuff (game mechancis and such) are pretty trivial to put in.

What makes modern games take a long time are the assets and engine development.